Community Heart Failure Specialist Nurse

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Heart Failure Specialist Nurse to work in a well-established community team. We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic and innovative with excellent experience and expertise in the care and management of patients with Heart Failure. This post is a part time role of 22.5 hours per week supporting the Heart Failure patients across the communities of the High Weald , Lewes and Havens with opportunity across B&H therefore you may be requested to work across the SCFT footprint should the demand arise.

You will be case managing newly diagnosed all cause Heart Failure patients as well as those with a long-standing diagnosis, confirmed by Echocardiogram to manage their condition by initiation and optimisation of guideline medical therapies, prevention of admission and readmission, palliative care and able to apply evidence-based practice to align with local and national strategies.

The successful candidate will have expert knowledge of heart failure management and be able to utilize their physical assessment skills to facilitate clinical decision making. Patients will benefit from regular oversight of their condition and heart failure teams will gain support from University Hospital Sussex MDTs.

You will be an autonomous practitioner however, you will be part of, and supported by, existing community Heart Failure services working in bordering localities. If you do not possess the essential skills you may be offered a development post.

Main duties of the job

• To work as a clinical expert and autonomous clinician to provide heart failure services across the designated locality, provide a seamless service for patients, involving advanced clinical assessment, symptom management, medications management, patient education and psychological care and caseload mange to ensure safe discharge back to GP with heart failure care plan where able.
• To work in collaboration with other members of the acute HF service with access to weekly MDT.
• Work across organisational and professional boundaries to improve quality of patient care
• To provide education and support to other members of the multidisciplinary team
• To ensure carers receive support and are signposted to appropriate services
• To ensure excellent end of life care as appropriate and facilitate
• To ensure accurate documentation and data collection to prove service.
• Assist as delegated by the Team Leader in the recruitment of staff, appraisal process, risk assessment process, incidents and complaints, and the performance management process.
• Assist in clinical supervision and peer review including mentorship to junior colleagues.
• Provides clinical leadership to team members

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Participate in the identification and development of clinical protocols and strategies to enhance both the continuity and standard of specialist care in line with NICE and the ESC guidelines.

Assist in the delivery of an advanced specialist nursing service for people with a diagnosis of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Provide specialist nursing advice and support to patients, their families and other healthcare professionals following diagnosis and through treatment.

To provide timely evidence-based care to patients who are seen either in a clinic or home setting.

Ensure continuity of a high standard of evidence based nursing care, assessing health, health related and nursing needs of patients, and other carers by identifying and initiating appropriate treatments or signposting appropriately to other services.

Coordinate and attend weekly MDT meetings ensuring all active caseload patients are presented when required.

To manage a specified case load of patients, providing education, information, and support to patients and /or caregivers.

To improve patients’ understanding of their condition to enable them to make informed choices about their care and understand the rationale of investigations and treatments and ensure personalised

Regularly review those clinical notes of patients requiring service input, ensuring all assessments, diagnostic investigation and test results are up-to-date and in place.

Actively involve service users in providing feedback of their experiences of the current service and suggestions for improvements

Attend meetings and conferences as appropriate ensuring that you are fully conversant with current issues both within the Trust and within the specialist services locally and nationally.

To ensure patient journey is seamless as possible and ensure excellent end of life care as appropriate.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.